"Your Highness, please spare me. I couldn't disobey the request of the Duke of Kiellini. From the moment I heard that, I had no will."

"Why Julietta? If you had been looking for someone similar, you could have found many."

"Julietta is the illegitimate child of Marquis Anais."

Oswald slapped his knee at Maribel's words. Killian didn't tell him, but he had inferred from her story so far that Julietta had now made her social debut as Princess Kiellini. After understanding the Prince's actions, he stared at Killian's face without realizing it.

"I heard the illegitimate child of Marquis Anais was dead."

"She is alive."

"Is that what Madame Anais told you to do?"

"Yes, it was the Marquise's order. I was told that Julietta should stay out of the public eye in the corner of the theater for the rest of her life. She also said that the Marquis should never learn of the existence of Julietta."

"That's why she has been wearing a disguise?"

"She was such a conspicuous child that she had to hide her appearance that way."

Killian finally nodded as if everything was understandable. "Did you want to make Julietta stand out to Marquis Anais in violation of the order of the Marquise, even though she is known to have died?"

Maribel admired the Prince, who had inferred everything with but a few words of conversation.

"At first, I decided that it was better for her to be a n.o.bleman's concubine than to do a lifetime of ch.o.r.es in the theater like this. But Julietta raised her voice and protested. So I threatened her to pay off the debt I had raised, and she ran out of the theater saying she'd pay it back by working as a maid."

Maribel packaged what she had done to sell her virginity to the n.o.bleman, purely for Julietta's sake. In fact, it was mutually beneficial.

"I have one more reason to kill you." Maribel bowed more and more to the horror of Killian's light accent.

"I really thought it was for Julietta."

"After that?"

"When I saw Julietta coming to pay back once a month, I thought I shouldn't let her go."

"So you introduced Julietta to the Duke of Kiellini."

"I thought if Marquis Anais saw Julietta, he wouldn't let her go. She is just like when she was a child. When she finished the work as a subst.i.tute of Princess of Kiellini, I hoped that she would live her life under the protection of the Marquis of Anais."

"Then why did you change your mind and decide to talk to me?"

"I didn't think it was dangerous when I made plans for this with the Duke of Kiellini. But there's something I've overlooked. It's a scary monster of jealousy of a woman."

"What do you mean, jealousy?"

"I despise the jealousy of Princess Kiellini towards a girl of her age. I never thought the anger of the princess, who thought her health had deprived her of everything she needed to enjoy, would be directed toward Julietta."

"So Julietta is in danger now."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Killian remained silent when she said Julietta was in danger. Anxious, Maribel raised her head carefully to study the Prince's expression.

'Will I be forgiven and live as if I were dead, or should I throw a hand for the future with my life as collateral?'

Trouble was not new to Maribel. Her life was always on the cliff, she could not see an inch to move. If she had only chosen a safe path, she would not have been here now.

Maribel grabbed the wet handkerchief once again and said to Killian, "Your Highness, may I ask what you're thinking of doing to Julietta?"

One of Killian's eyebrows crept up.

"What do you think I'll do?"

Maribel was so afraid that she thought she would give up the plan for a moment after seeing the smiling face of the Prince. But she decided to stake everything on the Prince who had visited her to find a runaway maid.

"How can I know your thoughts? I just want you to feel my heart-rending sorrow for Julietta."

"What kind of sympathy do you need for someone who impersonates a n.o.ble?"

"Your Highness, did you not say you were going to put Julietta in the seat of a concubine? Now that she is known as Princess Kiellini, you can't take her as a concubine."

The day after the Prince had visited the Eileen Theater to find Julietta, Maribel had gone to Lillian and found out the real thoughts of the Prince.

"Isn't she a fake? Even if I asked Duke Kiellini to give me a fake Julietta as my concubine, he wouldn't refuse. Or how about getting a real, weak-bodied Kiellini as a Queen and Julietta as a concubine?"

"Everyone knows Julietta as the successor to the Duke of Kiellini."

"You've made a fake princess, but can't you solve that? The Duke of Kiellini will find a way."

Maribel nodded as if she could not do anything with Killian's invidious remarks.

"As for Julietta, the seat of a concubine is a great honor. I think that's a good idea. In particular, the real Princess Kiellini who would be the Queen is unable to produce a successor because of her weak body, and it could be perfect for Julietta. If you could prevent Julietta dying for impersonating a n.o.ble."

Killian stared harshly at the woman who responded so gently, and said that it would not be such a bad idea, even though she knew he had no intention of doing so.